Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Abyss25]

So I just had a little incident involving most of my fortress being slaughtered. It started out when a goblin (Weretapir at the time) invaded my fort. Several people were outside, prompting the creature to chase them down. After swiftly beating a fisherman to death, my millitary arrived and with some effort put the beast down. However, it wasn't until later that it spiraled out of control.

I must've missed it, but he managed to bite two people. A tanner, and my Hammerlord who promply transformed mid spar into a blood-thirsty hammer-wielding engine of destruction. Literally it only took 3 seconds for the creature to dispatch the rest of my millitary and began ravaging my civilian population. 77 dwarves to 54 before bleeding out from all the wounds.  Around this time, a human caravan appeared. I was certain that there would have been no more Weretapir's. Oh, I was wrong.

At the hospital, two more turned into weretapirs but both were put down by lucky pickaxes to their heads after smashing people's faces in. But.. people were dying on the surface too? It turned out, one of the human caravan guards was a Weretapir as well. I don't know if he got bit or there was a weretapir I missed, or was already one but he killed some dwarves on the surface and bit a farmer before being killed by his fellows. I'm at around 35 dwarves. The farmer, in the hospital ends up transforming as well, but the madness is ended by a wounded dwarf. Urad the Hunter, who had not been bitten and just was on the ass end of an asskicking, managed to fire a bolt (im guessing he was lying in bed at the time) in the head of the weretapir farmer and killed it. It turned out, he wasn't just a Giant Slug hunter, but a true dwarven hero. Of course the damage was done and my woodworker has been producing masterwork caskets non-stop.

It will take time to recover from this, and I don't know if there are any more of the Weretapir menace around. Migrants arrived, and there are corpses everywhere. Trogdolytes are trying to take advantage of the situation and sneaking into my fortress, but I've got a Giant War Lion guarding the caverns.

I will never forgive those Tapir abominations for all the lives they claimed in their madness! My millitary might've been annihilated, but the regular civilians of Steelbraid stepped up to the plate and defended their home when it needed them the most.

Though it might be a good idea to not underestimate something as ridiculous sounding as a 'Weretapir' again.

[krenshala]

This is why I play Dwarf Fortress.  You just cannot get stories like this from the vast majority of games.

[Diamond]

And THAT is why everyone should carry a crossbow. And a helmet.

[Abyss25]

Oh they had helmets. But a Weretapir Hammerlord doesn't understand the concept. They just -kill-.

[TheFlame52]

One time I got werebeasts, can't remember what type, who bit five guys before dying. I said fuck it and did nothing. Then the caravan came and I had my dwarves haul shit to the depot. The werebeasts transformed in the middle of the pack of hauling dwarves. 150 to 30 in seconds.

[Dunamisdeos]

This is the exact opposite of my old Stealth Weremammoth story, and it is equally as awesome.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=141173.msg5505888#msg5505888

It is amusing that mammoths will stealth quietly, while the humble tapir resorts to open warfare.

[utunnels]

It is a sad good story.

[Magnumcannon]

This is why i love this game. I mean, it's so unique, one time your worst enemy is a long-lasting goblin siege, other time it's a weretapir infestation. AND THEN A DWARF KILLS ONE WHILE ON A BED.

[Abyss25]

Tapirs look funny imo. To think my dwarves got annihilated by these things.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Of course, add in 'glowing red eyes' 'twisted into humanoid form' and 'hungers for flesh and blood'. But I severely underestimated just how strong these things are. The first one didn't even die until he reverted back into a goblin, at which point he had his head instantly caved in by a group of angry dwarves with hammers. And every time my dwarves turned, they got a couple kills before dying from wounds/pickaxes/giant slug hunters.

[Insert_Gnome_Here]

What happens when caravan guards or the liason get bitten!? Do they turn into werebeasts next year?

[Terff]

I've been killed off by a wereass before... it is terrifying.

[AceSV]

I've had weretapirs attack a couple of my fortresses, surprisingly, but werebeasts are always a pain in the ass. 

The annoying thing is when you get werebeast pandemics.  The countryside is just filled with werebeasts.  Survived a werebeast attack, did you?  Too bad!  Another one shows up next year.  Decide to abandon the fortress and try again elsewhere?  Too bad!  The werebeast pandemic will find your new fortress too!  That's happened at least twice to me.  The wereshrews were kind of doable, the werebears were not. 

[Abyss25]

I've had weretapirs attack a couple of my fortresses, surprisingly, but werebeasts are always a pain in the ass. 

The annoying thing is when you get werebeast pandemics.  The countryside is just filled with werebeasts.  Survived a werebeast attack, did you?  Too bad!  Another one shows up next year.  Decide to abandon the fortress and try again elsewhere?  Too bad!  The werebeast pandemic will find your new fortress too!  That's happened at least twice to me.  The wereshrews were kind of doable, the werebears were not.

At least they make for funny/cool stories. But it surprised me when that caravan guard was a Weretapir. I bet they were plotting this attack for months.

[Loud Whispers]

I for one quite enjoy the idea that the infected do not even realize what happens every full moon. The caravan guard goes to work, and one morning he wakes up and everyone is missing limbs but him.

[AceSV]

I've had weretapirs attack a couple of my fortresses, surprisingly, but werebeasts are always a pain in the ass. 

The annoying thing is when you get werebeast pandemics.  The countryside is just filled with werebeasts.  Survived a werebeast attack, did you?  Too bad!  Another one shows up next year.  Decide to abandon the fortress and try again elsewhere?  Too bad!  The werebeast pandemic will find your new fortress too!  That's happened at least twice to me.  The wereshrews were kind of doable, the werebears were not.

At least they make for funny/cool stories. But it surprised me when that caravan guard was a Weretapir. I bet they were plotting this attack for months.

If your world is experiencing a weretapir pandemic, anyone can be a weretapir.  A couple years of this fortress and werebeasts won't be very surprising anymore.  I think migrants can appear with the weretapir curse too.  I remember a migrant group getting attacked by a werebeast, but I don't remember if that was because one of them was cursed or a werebeast happened to attack at that moment of if it was one of my own citizens. 

The idea that a cavaran guard can travel all the way to your fortress suggests that they don't transform unless they're actually in your presence.